Susan Fisher-Owens, MD, MPH

I am a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics in the UCSF School of Medicine, and Clinical Professor of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences in the UCSF School of Dentistry. My goal is to increase the rate and quality of preventive care provided to all children, but especially those who come from less resourced circumstances. I work to accomplish this through clinic, research, and service.

I love being a primary care pediatrician, helping children (and families) grow and develop, at the county hospital, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Concurrently, I get the challenge and pleasure of teaching medical, nursing, and dental students.

My research focuses on preventing the most common chronic condition of childhood, dental cavities, by employing preventive strategies in primary care medical and other non-dental settings, as one example of changing the approach. My conceptual model of children's oral health has been cited widely, and my research now focuses on eliminating oral health disparities. I have been extending this work to help those pregnant and elderly.

I serve locally with CavityFreeSF and in the greater San Francisco region, plus nationally, and internationally. I serve on the California State Oral Health Plan and the California Perinatal and Infant Oral Health Quality Advisory Board. I worked as an executive committee member on the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Oral Health, and still write policies and give workshops for them. I am honored to be asked to write and speak nationally and internationally on my work.

Drawing from my clinic practice, I also have a deep desire to understand immunizations so I can help parents and providers make educated decisions about their preventive care. One skiIlset I have developed is in informatics, to use systems to improve the quality of care provided; I am boarded by the American College of Preventive Medicine, as well as the American Board of Pediatrics.
Education
2004 - Pediatric Primary Care, Children's National Medical Center
MD, 05/2001 - , George Washington University
MPH, 05/1996 - International Health Care Systems, Johns Hopkins University
AB, - Government/History, Dartmouth College
Websites

  1. Kumar JV, Moss ME, Liu H, Fisher-Owens S. Re: Letter to the Editor of Public Health in response to 'Association……'? between low fluoride exposure and children's intelligence: A meta-analysis relevant to community water fluoridation'. Public health 2025. PMID: 39966033


  2. Tate AR, Fisher-Owens SA, Spiller L, Muhlbauer J, Lukefahr JL, SECTION ON ORAL HEALTH
    , COUNCIL ON CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT. Oral and Dental Aspects of Child Abuse and Neglect: Clinical Report. Pediatrics 2024. PMID: 39155729


  3. Kumar JV, Moss ME, Liu H, Fisher-Owens S. Association between low fluoride exposure and children's intelligence: a meta-analysis relevant to community water fluoridation. Public health 2023. PMID: 37120936


  4. Kimberly J. Hammersmith, Susan A. Fisher-Owens, Paul S. Casamassimo. Pediatric Patient-Centered Care in General Dentistry: We’re Closer Than You Might Think. Journal of the California Dental Association 2021. PMID:


  5. Susan A. Fisher-Owens, James L. Lukefahr, Anupama Rao Tate. Oral and Dental Aspects of Child Abuse and Neglect. 2020. PMID:


  6. Lisa H. Berens, Mimansa Cholera, Deborah Elam, Susan A. Fisher-Owens, Margaret Fisher, Stuart A. Gansky, Irene V. Hilton, Kara Lugtu, Robert Isman, Elaine Musselman, Howard Pollick, Ling Zhan. Review of Safety, Frequency and Intervals of Preventive Fluoride Varnish Application for Children. Journal of the California Dental Association 2019. PMID:


  7. Fisher-Owens SA. The Interprofessional Role in Dental Caries Management: Ways Medical Providers Can Support Oral Health (Perspectives from a Physician). Dental clinics of North America 2019. PMID: 31470921


  8. Cheng J, Gregorich SE, Gansky SA, Fisher-Owens SA, Kottek AM, White JM, Mertz EA. Constructing Matched Groups in Dental Observational Health Disparity Studies for Causal Effects. JDR clinical and translational research 2019. PMID: 30931723


  9. Max J. Coppes, Susan A. Fisher-Owens. Oral Health in Children. Pediatric clinics of North America 2018. PMID:


  10. Coppes MJ, Fisher-Owens SA. Oral Health: A Critical Piece to Develop into a Healthy Adult. Pediatric clinics of North America 2018. PMID: 30213361


  11. Fisher-Owens SA, Mertz E. Preventing Oral Disease: Alternative Providers and Places to Address This Commonplace Condition. Pediatric clinics of North America 2018. PMID: 30213349


  12. Susan Fisher-Owens, Carolyn L Brown, Lisa Chung, Margaret Fisher, Stuart Gansky, Amor Santiago, Kevin Grumbach. Gathering the Fish and Casting a Net: San Francisco's Children's Oral Health Strategic Plan. Pediatrics 2017. PMID:


  13. Jodi D. Stookey, Margaret Fisher, Lisa H. Chung, Stuart A. Gansky, Mary Jue, Susan A. Fisher-Owens, Deborah Elam, Christine E. Miller, Claire Sit, Prasanthi Patel, Irene V. Hilton. Case Study: School-Based Oral Health Screening in San Francisco as an Essential Public Health Service. Journal of the California Dental Association 2017. PMID:


  14. Fisher-Owens SA, Lukefahr JL, Tate AR, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS, SECTION ON ORAL HEALTH , COMMITTEE ON CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT , AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY, COUNCIL ON CLINICAL AFFAIRS, COUNCIL ON SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS , AD HOC WORK GROUP ON CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT. Oral and Dental Aspects of Child Abuse and Neglect. Pediatrics 2017. PMID: 28771417


  15. Fisher-Owens SA, Lukefahr JL, Tate AR. Oral and Dental Aspects of Child Abuse and Neglect. Pediatric dentistry 2017. PMID: 29122066


  16. Fisher-Owens SA, Amendola L, Featherstone JDB, Inge RE, Flaherman VJ. Increased public reimbursement for prophylactic visits with dentists associated with increased receipt of preventive dental services in children. Journal of public health dentistry 2017. PMID: 28369857


  17. Fisher-Owens SA, Soobader MJ, Gansky SA, Isong IA, Weintraub JA, Platt LJ, Newacheck PW. Geography matters: state-level variation in children's oral health care access and oral health status. Public health 2016. PMID: 26995567


  18. Susan Fisher-Owens, Louis Amendola, Valerie Flaherman. Does Payment Structure for Preventive Dentistry IMPACT ORAL Health Outcomes?: Table:. Pediatrics 2016. PMID:


  19. Susan Fisher-Owens, Brown Carolyn L, Lisa Chung, Margaret Fisher, Stuart Gansky, Amor Santiago, Kevin Grumbach. Gathering the Fish and Casting a Net: San Francisco's Children's Oral Health Strategic Plan. Pediatrics 2016. PMID:


  20. Hany Aly, David Kanter, Susan Fisher-Owens. Congenital hypothyroidism presenting with seizures in a newborn. Journal of Pediatric Neurology 2015. PMID:


  21. Fisher-Owens S. Broadening perspectives on pediatric oral health care provision: social determinants of health and behavioral management. Pediatric dentistry 2014. PMID: 24717748


  22. Thomas M, Spielvogel A, Cohen F, Fisher-Owens S, Stotland N, Wolfe B, Shumway M. Maternal differences and birth outcome disparities: Diversity within a high risk prenatal clinic. Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities 2014. PMID: 24921060


  23. Fisher-Owens SA, Isong IA, Soobader MJ, Gansky SA, Weintraub JA, Platt LJ, Newacheck PW. An examination of racial/ethnic disparities in children's oral health in the United States. Journal of public health dentistry 2012. PMID: 22970900


  24. Isong IA, Soobader MJ, Fisher-Owens SA, Weintraub JA, Gansky SA, Platt LJ, Newacheck PW. Racial disparity trends in children's dental visits: US National Health Interview Survey, 1964-2010. Pediatrics 2012. PMID: 22753556


  25. Jessica Schumer, Julie S. OBrien, Rhea Boyd, Emily Levy, Jessie Duvall, Shannon Thyne, Susan Fisher-Owens. Decreasing Cycle Time in a Multi-Disciplinary Clinic. Academic pediatrics 2012. PMID:


  26. Brooks JC, Fisher-Owens SA, Wu YW, Strauss DJ, Newman TB. Evidence suggests there was not a "resurgence" of kernicterus in the 1990s. Pediatrics 2011. PMID: 21444599


  27. Fisher-Owens SA, Boddupalli G, Thyne SM. Telephone case management for asthma: an acceptable and effective intervention within a diverse pediatric population. The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma 2011. PMID: 21332378


  28. Thyne SM, Fisher-Owens SA. The complexities of home visitation for children with asthma in underserved communities. The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma 2011. PMID: 21303268


  29. Marchi KS, Fisher-Owens SA, Weintraub JA, Yu Z, Braveman PA. Most pregnant women in California do not receive dental care: findings from a population-based study. Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) 2010. PMID: 21121228


  30. Bramlett MD, Soobader MJ, Fisher-Owens SA, Weintraub JA, Gansky SA, Platt LJ, Newacheck PW. Assessing a multilevel model of young children's oral health with national survey data. Community dentistry and oral epidemiology 2010. PMID: 20370808


  31. Fisher-Owens SA, Barker JC, Adams S, Chung LH, Gansky SA, Hyde S, Weintraub JA. Giving policy some teeth: routes to reducing disparities in oral health. Health affairs (Project Hope) 2008. PMID: 18332496


  32. Fisher-Owens SA, Gansky SA, Platt LJ, Weintraub JA, Soobader MJ, Bramlett MD, Newacheck PW. Influences on children's oral health: a conceptual model. Pediatrics 2007. PMID: 17766495


  33. Susan A. Fisher-Owens, Wendy M. Turenne, Kathleen Chavanu, Anthony D. Slonim. Racial Disparities in Children Hospitalized with Asthma at Academic Childrens' Hospitals. Pediatric Allergy Immunology and Pulmonology 2006. PMID: